Just had an amazing chat with a colleague within a foundation. They're talking about "post covid"... 1/x

I said to them, "post covid?" 1st - until/unless every person in every country in the world is safe from this virus, there is no "post covid," 2/x

2nd - pre-Covid we had (and still have) AIDS, ebola, MERS, SARS, etc and epidemiologists/climate experts were making case that 21C will be age of pandemics, so more will come 3/x

If it took Covid for the powerful in the US (including big foundations) to see that they benefit from the systemic fissures in our society (white supremacy, health, education, wealth, climate collapse,) the job is to stay focused on ending those fissures, virus or no virus 4/x

If we don't do that, then we will have learned nothing from Covid. If we learn nothing, it will never end; nothing will change. The epidemic of failure will continue - is that what this foundation/philanthropy wants to be part of? 5/x

Philanthropy/Nonprofits focusing on "post covid" are fooling themselves. Whether or not virus continues, the work of repair will. We live in a "pandemic era," the viruses will come and go; the epidemics of failure and oppression should be the focus, 6/x

in short, I think a philanthropic approach that centers "post Covid" is a way of saying the quiet part almost out loud - we were OK with our society pre-Covid, let's go back to that. No, I say, let's not - let's nip this thinking in the bud right now. 7/7